GOOD supports the Statement of Intent of the 2024 Government of National Unity

17 June 2024

On Saturday 15 June 2024, GOOD signed the Statement of Intent of the 2024 Government of National Unity (GNU) thus signalling our support for the current proposals contained in the document.

Our support for the GNU follows a meeting between GOOD, represented by Leader Patricia de Lille and me, with the ANC’s negotiating team last Sunday 9 June 2024 in Johannesburg.

At that meeting, the ANC team presented the proposed Foundational Principles and the proposed Minimum Programme of the GNU.  They also proposed the convening of a National Dialogue.

During our discussion with the ANC’s team we indicated that the proposals, as presented to us, largely aligned with our vision for a united South Africa where the government rapidly attends to the unfinished business of redress and urgently addresses the crisis of poverty.  

We proposed that the statement of intent also include a commitment to a social safety net, in the form of adequate social security, and to addressing spatial transformation. 

We were encouraged to see that the ANC’s team included these proposals in the Statement of Intent. We thus concluded that there was nothing in the document that would preclude GOOD’s participation in a National Dialogue and the GNU.

Our current support for the GNU is based entirely on our support for further dialogue as well as the foundational principles and minimum programme of priorities.

We have had no discussions about positions in the GNU nor did we make any demand for any positions in the GNU.  

Our support for the GNU was made in the interests of furthering our commitment to a coherent national programme which includes GOOD’s four foundational pillars of justice: social justice, spatial justice, economic justice and environmental justice.

Issued by Brett Herron, GOOD Secretary-General, 18 June 2024